


Carry You

by fallenoutlaw



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Alternate Universe - Coffee Shops & Cafés, Bisexual Lance (Voltron), Falling In Love, First Kiss, Flirting, Fluff, Gay Keith (Voltron), Humor, Keith struggles with happiness, Lance is a few years older than Keith, Lance is always nervous, Lance leaves cute messages on his receipts, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-13
Updated: 2020-11-13
Packaged: 2021-03-08 20:01:55
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,168
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27262414
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fallenoutlaw/pseuds/fallenoutlaw
Summary: Keith always struggled with finding his place in the world, that was until he met Lance.
Relationships: Keith/Lance (Voltron)
Comments: 1
Kudos: 63





	Carry You

**Author's Note:**

> okay so this story was actually called 'should i write my school paper but am I writing fanfiction instead, maybe.docx'
> 
> ALSO i'm not from the usa and have actually no idea how the school system is like, I did my research and hope I got it right with the different names and the ages of the boys
> 
> AND i did not proof read it yet
> 
> enjoyyy

_Carry You – Novo Amor_

Keith grew up thinking that he didn’t deserved to be happy. That he just hasn’t found his place in the world yet and has too dig a little deeper. By the age of thirteen he had been in four different foster homes, handed around like some trophy or a desperate attempt to prove something. It was no wonder, he already knew why he always felt so left out when he went to another school, trying to make friends and fail miserably when it came to normal social interaction. Up to middle school he always thought Keith himself was the problem, that he maybe wasn’t meant to make friends and left it as it was. Until he started to realize, he never even had a chance to be the typical boy from next door. How could he, when his only problem concluded fighting with his foster parents over irrelevant things?

  
When Keith turned seventeen and had been in a relatively comforting home, he started a new job at the coffee shop next door to earn some extra money and that was when he met Lance McClain for the first time in his life. An awkward boy with brown locks, ocean blue eyes and small freckles among his nose, bringing out his perfectly tanned skin.

“Hi,” he said with his soothing light voice causing Keith to lose himself for a moment there. A girl behind him nudged his shoulder, so he had to come a little bit closer to the counter. “Uhm, a chocolate latte, one black coffee and the pumpkin spice latte for me?”

Keith chuckled lightly,

“All of them for you or do your friends want to order as well?” Keith asked him, still smiling. The other boy blinked at him in confusion. “What? No, the pumpkin spice latte is for me, the other ones for my friends.”

“I’m just messing with you,” Keith answered. “Choose any table you’d like, I’m going to bring you your drinks in second.”

And when Keith silently cringed about his unnecessary joke and brought them their drinks a few minutes later, he already thought about the loss of his tips and how much he actually needed the money. His eyes gazed through the room, eyes linking at the table with the cute freckled boy. For a second all of this ‘I deserve to be miserable and depressed’-thinking washed away. Even afterwards he would swear on his life, that the sun itself settled in that boys’ smile.

When the left almost an hour later, there was a small drawing of an adorable panda scribbled on their check they left behind. A little speech bubble above it saying ‘peace, quiet and some good coffee.’

~

It only took a few days until freckle-guy was back in the coffee shop, this time without his friends and weird grin on his lips. Keith simply noticed how he tried really hard to cover his nervousness towards people by making jokes and sometimes randomly flirting himself into something he probably didn’t want.

“The pumpkin spice latte again?” Keith asked him, a little smile crossing his lips. It was harder than he ever expected to keep his shit together while talking to a handsome boy. “Or still the whole package?”

Keith was not going to lie, that he fairly enjoyed talking to him and after all his attempts in school to make friends, this was definitely worth the wait. He couldn’t restrain himself from taking a small look at his lips.

The other boy snorted and gripped the straps of his backpack tighter.

“No, just the latte today.” His blue eyes glanced at Keith’s name tag. “But should I feel honored for remembering my previous order, Keith?”

“Oh, we’re on first name basis already?” Keith said teasingly. “But don’t flatter yourself, I’m just really good at remembering stuff.” Lie.

“Ah,” the cute boy said. “What a bummer. Guess I’ll have to try harder then.”

He took his latte and sat down at the nearest table to the counter, literally to annoy the hell out of Keith. Was he here on purpose or was Keith just slowly going insane?

“Isn’t it a bit depressing to sit here and drink your coffee all alone?” Keith tried not to sound too curious about him, when he actually was. Apparently, Keith was the master of making unnecessary observations causing him to cringe again, when freckled-boy fished a notebook out of his backpack and placed it on his table.

“Why? You’re here to entertain me.”

And as Keith was about to reply, a small group of girls came into the coffee shop, breaking the comforting silence and keeping Keith occupied for the next fifteen minutes. The other boy buried himself in what appeared to be schoolwork, put on his headphones and lost himself in another world.

This time he left with another drawing on his receipt. A cute chibi-boy saying ‘I’m Lance, btw.’.

~

A few weeks went by in which Lance visited the coffee shop on a regular basis. Keith slowly got the impression he was a coffee addict or simply interested in him. Not that he was about to get his hopes about, but his chest clenched every freaking time, when the brown-haired boy entered the coffee shop.

After some talking Keith found out that Lance was three years older than him and already in college. He majored in Art, which was why his drawings always looked so cute and got better from visit to visit. One time he left a little drawing of Keith patting a small dog. And even though Keith didn’t want to get his hopes up, he fell for him every time they saw each other more and more.

Funny actually, how Keith struggled to talk to people, but Lance made it seem so easy.

On a Friday evening he entered the coffee shop with his two friends again, whose names were Pidge and Hunk, ordering the same as usual but this time something was off. Lance avoided his glance, sat down at the table and all his lips left was a little ‘Hi’.

“Don’t worry, he’ll come around later.” Pidge told him probably to ease out his concern. Didn’t work though, did Keith do something wrong? “He’s just still sulking over his bad mark he got on his paper.”

Keith got their drinks ready, spraying a little smiley face on his latte with chocolate powder. Maybe that’ll lighten his mood a bit. His heart sped up as he approached their table. Lance was definitely not in the mood for any talk today, because he had his head placed on his arms making the weirdest noises ever.

“Should I call an ambulance or is Lance doing okay?” Keith asked amused.

“Call the ambulance.” Lance groaned visibly annoyed. “No wait, just dig the grave already.”

Keith hesitated for a moment, unsure if he should turn it into a joke or would Lance be offended if he did?

“Do I get extra tips, if I do?”

“Wow.” Pidge answered chuckling. “I’d pay to see you trying to get Lance six feet down. He hates undergrounds.”

Keith watched them argue for a minute. Hunk tried to lighten his mood with changing the subject, sadly without success. He sat with them for a minute, patting Lance’s back and there was literally no point in denying how Lance tensed under his fingers touching his back.

“Oh, I totally forgot, Lance wants to order something else, don’t you, Lance?” Pidge said out of the blue, more excited than she probably should be.

“No,” he growled, head still in the crook of his arm. “I wanted to, but now I don’t.”

Keith looked at them obviously confused, his eyebrows slowly rising and the warmth of his hand disconnecting from Lance’s back.

“Oh hell no, Lance!” Hunk replied with as much enthusiasm as Pidge. “It’s why we came here in the first place.”

Keith was always quick to pick up the pattern of someone’s behavior and Lance’s clearly was that he got annoyed way too quickly by little things. Probably one little thing could destroy his entire day. But it wasn’t like Keith was one to talk. He silently sulked over the fact how he sucked at communicating with any kind of human.

“I’m gonna do it then.” Pidge argued and suddenly Lance head raised from his arms looking her dead in the eye, glaring madly.

“Pidge!” he said warningly, but her mimic showed how amused she really was.

“Why don’t you want to order? It’s my job you know.” Keith told both of them, locking eyes with Lance for a moment.

“Lance wants to ask, if he could have you-arg” Pidge began and was aggressively stopped by Lance holding his hand over her mouth. A small smile appeared on his lips. Sure, Keith was oblivious sometimes, but definitely not like that.

“I’ll wait behind the counter, if you want to order.” He told him teasingly.

When they left without ordering anything, Keith was sure that there wouldn’t be a drawing on the receipt this time, but he was proven to be wrong. A little kitten sitting in the corner of the receipt, a phone number above and the usual speech bubble saying, ‘text me, please’.

~

Keith decided to text him the same night, because there was definitely no reason he shouldn’t. After seeing Lance’s phone number on the receipt, he was sure that all the flirting these past weeks was not only his imagination but pure reality. And for once in his life, he actually felt alive and not left out. He felt included, happy and more than okay with his past being so oppressive.

(09:07p.m) Hi, it’s keith

He hated texting. Only the thought made him shiver, anxiety settling like a welcomed friend in his chest, bringing some pressure as a welcome gift. Keith shifted uncomfortably on his couch, switched the movie he was watching every three seconds until his phone vibrated.

(09:32p.m) i am sooo sorry for today, i swear, i'm usually not like that

Keith smiled at his apology but didn't actually get his point. There was nothing wrong with having a bad day, right? It's not like he wasn't the sun himself on other days.

He took his time before he answered again, not wanting to sound too desperate.

(09:44p.m) so what did you want to order today?

His heartbeat was going insane, hammering wildly in his chest and causing a light headache. God, he didn't even know the boy, what was going on?

Was Lance seriously interested in him that way or did he just think Keith was a cool buddy to have? Was Lance even gay? His mind was desperately searching for signs, when his phone made a sound again and his mind went blank.

(09:47p.m) I actually wanted to ask you on a date today

Keith stopped dead right where he was, freezing for a moment and his lips drifting into a smug grin. At least he had the affirmation now, that he was not going insane. Unsure he started typing something but deleted it shortly after. A lot of thoughts crossed his mind that moment. It wouldn’t be surprising, if Keith fucked all of this up just by saying something wrong. So he just answered with a simple ‘do you still want to?’.

The answer came within seconds and made Keith’s heartbeat go even faster than it already did.

(09:50p.m) yes

(09:50p.m) only if you’re interested as well of course

Hasn’t Keith been obvious the past weeks? He always thought that his face clearly showed when he was interested in someone. Even if it didn’t happen that often, his stepsister always knew when something was up. Keith couldn’t help but smile and answered teasingly,

(09:51p.m) not sure if you’re interested in dating a minor

And no matter how many jokes they made, they found themselves one week later on a real date.

Lance picked Keith up shortly after he finished his papers for college and told Keith it was a surprise where he’d take him and that actually was the point where he got nervous. Keith liked as many things as he had fingers on his hands and probably disliked at least everything else. Of course he didn’t tell Lance about it, because he was enthusiastic about the whole outcome of this situation and mildly curious about Lance as well but if he had picked something Keith truly disliked he wouldn’t be able to hide it.

So there he was, in Lance’s car, staring out of the window and try to keep up with his small talk. And as soon as they reached the parking lot for an arcade hall, a self-assuring grin crossed Keith’s lips.

“I’m not sure, if you chose the right place for a date.” Keith said as he got out of the car, pressing his fists deeper in his jacket pockets. “I’m highly competitive when it comes to stuff like this. I don’t want you to cry by the end of the day.”

Lance chuckled, those pretty soft lips moving into a snort.

“That’s perfect!” the other boy answered. “I’m competitive as well, let’s see who goes home crying today.”

“Well not me, obviously.”

When they made their way to the entrance, Lance took Keith’s hand in his own, a comfortable warmth covering his fingers. Not that he did mind, it was just a bit overwhelming to have someone beside him who was actually interested in him. After being handed around like a freaking trophy, Keith sure had issues about trusting and especially, talking about himself.

His heart started pounding loudly in his chest, a light headache coming across his head causing him to feel nauseous. Keith grabbed his hand tighter, intertwining their fingers.

“How can it be that someone like you, who obviously flirts a lot, ends up taking a high school senior on a date? Shouldn’t you be dating those college girls who are willing to give you all they’ve got?” Keith asked him honestly, his eyes locking with Lance’s for a second before they entered the enormous room, with various sound effects coming from every direction.

Keith’s eyes glided over the whole room, different lights hitting him and people pushing themselves past them.

“Is that the moment to come clean?” Lance asked him, joking obviously. “I mean there sure are pretty girls in college, but well- uhm, I do flirt a lot when I’m nervous and wasn’t expecting you to pick up on it. And I’m like nervous all the time.”

Keith blinked at him in confusion.

“I didn’t really think you were serious though, I’m three years younger than you!” Keith argued, but didn’t let go of his hand, when Lance kind of pulled him towards the next empty place, which was the dancing station. And if Keith was actually good at one thing, it was dancing.

“Well since I asked you out, you can be sure I wasn’t fooling around. I don’t care if you’re younger than me.” Lance told him. “And neither am I fooling around when it comes to dancing, give me your best, Keith!”

Keith smiled at him with pity of what happened next. Sometimes Lance was way too sure of himself and this definitely was one of those times. It didn't take a lot of time until Keith left Lance behind and beat him by as many points as it was possible. Panting he grinned at Lance, took both of his hands in his own comforting him with a disgusting winning smile.

"I told you I'm competitive." Keith told him again, pulling him slightly towards him and locked eyes with him again, before he backed away again. His eyes gazing at Lance's lips for a second.

They went through the whole hall holding hands, bumping against each other on purpose without saying one word. 

"So, where did you get it from? Being competitive? I'm quite sure I got it from my mother, she always challenges me with different stuff." Lance asked him, after he got both of them a slushy and sat down on a big leather couch beside some tables. Keith had to admit he liked this a lot and enjoyed it even more when Lance linked their fingers again and put one of his feet behind Keith's legs. That little smile captured on his lips was so pure and insecure at the same time.

"Well I guess, I had issues since I grew up in foster homes I probably wanted to stand out somehow." Keith told him truthfully and shook his head slowly giggling as he saw Lance's expression. "Don't worry about it."

His eyes widened in surprise, grabbing one of his hands tighter and his thumb gliding over Keith’s sensitive skin probably to comfort him.

“So, you’re adopted?” Lance asked him with pure curiosity, pulling his bottom lip slowly in and visibly tried to embrace Keith’s entire face. Keith took a sip of his slushy before he answered.

“Yes, kind of.” Keith avoided his eye contact and took another sip of his slushy before he pulled Lance up and tangled their fingers again and slightly pushed him towards a shooting booth. “Well I’ve probably seen more homes than I had friends, but that’s alright, I guess.”

Lance stopped right where he was, looking to Keith. An unsatisfied, pitying look glimmering in his dark blue eyes. Hesitating his gaze went to Keith’s lips for a second.

“I don’t believe you,” Lance told him, his eyes locking with his again for a moment, before leaning in desperately, torturous, and maybe a little bit teasing. “there can’t be anyone who can resist you that easily.”

They were suddenly way too close, Lance’s breath hitting his face and an incredibly nagging blush rising up onto his cheeks. He couldn’t help but take a short glance at Lance’s lips again and shifting a tiny bit forward until their chest were almost as close as their faces. The pace of his heartbeat going insane over the amount of intimate glances.

“Can I kiss you?” Lance asked him with a rather soft voice, husky and sweet.

It only took a small nod from Keith, before Lance’s lips crashed into his, teeth uncomfortably clattering at one another at first, but softly smoothing out. For a moment the whole universe seemed to stop, time was an odd thing, when it came to slowly coming apart in front of someone. Lance hands brushed his cheeks, finding his place in Keith’s neck just to pull him even closer. A hesitant chuckle escaped Keith’s mouth between all the kisses. This was heaven. All this dumb jokes and enthusiastic flirting, Lance being overly excited for his daily coffee and his even dumber face – it was literal heaven.

When they broke apart and Lance looked at him with a smug grin among his lips, the only thing Keith said was,

“Do it again.”

~

“When I was fifteen, I told my mom about my sexuality. At least my suspicion about it and all she told me was ‘oh, I know.’”. Lance told Keith with a wide grin on his lips. They ended up at Lance’s house, his garden actually, spread out on a big blanket in the still wet grass. The sky was too cloudy for the stars to shine through, but still the atmosphere was enough. “I actually never came out to any of my foster parents, I never really cared about relationships either.”

Lance turned on the blanket to look at Keith.

“Do you now?”

Keith gave him a challenging smile.

“Does it matter?”

Lance bit down on his lip, his eyes glimmering over Keith’s entire face before he scooted a little bit closer to press his lips softly against Keith’s again. His fingertips mildly touching his cheeks. A flatter hit Keith’s chest, giggling in the kiss again.

“Show me your room?” Keith whispered against his lips. “I bet it’s full of drawings and band posters.”

“Sure, if you’re ready for the mess I left before I went to work, then of course.” Lance sat up from the tangled position and looked down on Keith’s flushed face. “But not to change the subject, it does matter to me. Before I show you, my whole soul packed up into one room, I’ve got to be sure, because I don’t date just to have fun. I’m too nervous for anyone to bear, so this is pretty serious to me?”

When Lance stood up and held out both of his hands for Keith to pull him up as well, an unsure mimic crossed his face. Brows furrowed and his delicate, swollen lips decently parted as he grabbed both hands and almost pulled Lance down again. His hands not leaving Lance’s for a second, eyes locking again and melting into a comfortable kiss again.

“Honestly, Lance. I just told you that I never came out to anyone and didn’t have many friends as a child. Do you think, I’m not serious about all of this?”

An honestly precious smile lit up Lance’s whole face.

“Good, you’re worthy of my room then.”

When they made their way through the McClains house, they passed a lot of family pictures and personal stuff lined up to expose Lance little curly locks he had as a child. Or the fact, that most of his siblings probably didn’t live here anymore, because he’d never mentioned them before. For a moment a strange anxiety hit Keith, realizing that he truly didn’t know anything about the boy.

He risked a frequent glance at Lance, guiding him up the stairs to his room and noticed those brown locks hanging in his face, an satisfied smile upon his lips while searching for Keith’s hand again.

“Can I ask you something?” Lance asked him, stopping dead in front of a door, which supposedly was the one to his room. Keith nodded, not leaving has fingers alone. “Did you ever feel lost in all of this chaos?”

“You mean like in life?” Keith asked him, eying him curiously. “Of course, I did. I never felt included in anything until I met you.”

Lance pulled him a bit closer again. Enough for him to feel his breath hitch and slowly exhaling against Lance’s lips. Those deep ocean blue eyes lingering, catching and somehow locking Keith into his own heart. Locking this exact moment.

“I did too. A lot actually. When I was younger, I was scared that I never fit into this world and that was probably when all of this nervousness started.” Lance exhaled again. “And I normally don’t invite any of my dates into my room, because it’s really personal.”

“I should feel honored then.”

A small smile crossed the brunette’s lips again.

“You should.”

Keith had to admit, that this wasn’t exactly what he had expected. It was smaller than he imagined, a petite bed right under a window with a whole pile of clothes on top of it. But that wasn’t the reason why Lance was so insecure about this room, because with one thing Keith wasn’t wrong. Different canvases spread around the whole bedroom, a few of them hung up on the wall and when Keith saw his actual art for the first time, his heart seemed to stop for an actual second.

The canvas upon his bed showed a boy on a sofa, without a face, but a big dark cloud full of different words and thoughts right above his head. Fairy lights tangled around the whole picture, lighting up the entire room. It was so well drawn and expressive, that it sent a shiver down Keith’s spine.

“Lance, no joke, all of this is beautiful. There’s no way anyone would ever judge you for expressing your feelings in all of this.” His hand reached out for the older boy’s hand and shifted closer to him again, both of them crashing into each other again and again, until both of them were just drunkenly giggling and chuckling while fooling around. “I love all of this.”

“Did I do good on your first date?” Lance asked him.

“You did great.”

~

One week into dating Lance McClain, Keith’s mood lightened up abruptly. It felt like all of this misery he suffered from was definitely worth the wait. It felt like Lance McClain was meant to be his sunshine to light up his fucking whole world and surely it felt like there was no place he’d rather be.

His heart sped up when Lance entered the coffee shop, his head got dizzy when their lips touched, and his chest clenched when his hands hovered at the top of his neck. There was honestly no thing he couldn’t adore about this boy.

And when Keith Kogane kissed him goodbye that evening and cleared up his table, the little drawing on the receipt left him speechless for a second.

Chibi-Lance kissing Chibi-Keith on the cheek, the usual speechbubble above saying.

“I love you.”


End file.
